Editorial: City makes mistake in lack
of openness San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 11/02/2001 12:00 AM

City officials may have damaged one of their accountability
measures by not being forthcoming about it.

The proposed City Charter reform in question is City
Proposition 3, not to be confused with the state constitutional amendment also
known as Proposition 3. (The city proposals are at the bottom of the ballot.)

City Proposition 3 is widely advertised as a measure
designed to take civil protection away from licensed professionals who work
for the city. That is worthwhile.

The justification can be found in reports during last
couple of years about city lawyers who failed to do their job but were safe
because of civil service protection.

But now the proposition has become controversial because
of the publicly unmentioned line in the proposal stating that "part-time,
temporary and seasonal employees" are not covered by civil service.

Frankly, this provision makes sense. City Attorney Frank
Garza told Express-News reporter William Pack that these employees have not
been covered under the civil service rules in effect since 1977. They are supposed
to be on the payroll only 90 days anyway.

Proposition 3 makes the rule part of the charter. But
the charter reform proposal is controversial because the city has kept a large
number of temporary employees on the payroll for years.

The Service Employees International Union claims more
than 3,000 of the city's employees are officially part-time or temporary workers.
The city says that number is too high, but they have not released their own
count.

Permanent full-time workers should not be falsely classified
as part-time or temporary. That is an unfair way of reducing salaries and benefits
for low-wage workers.

The city's temporary worker problem surfaced in a debate
over paying all city workers a living wage of $8.25 per hour.

Abusing temporary worker categories is abhorrent, and
the city should not engage in the practice. But that is not what Proposition
3 is about.

The silence of Mayor Ed Garza and supporters of the City
Charter during public discussion and campaigning on the propositions has angered
members of Communities Organized for Public Service and Metro Alliance.

The charter reform campaign orchestrated by Garza should
have been more upfront about the full content of Proposition 3. If it had been
more open, this late-hour controversy would have been avoided.